College Sports Blog

Quick hits: Five things to know about Kansas, Baylor

Before the two winless Big 12 Conference teams face one another this weekend, here are five things to know about the University of Kansas and Baylor University football teams.

Kansas has a new starting quarterback
Senior Dayne Crist simply wasn’t getting the job done for the Jayhawks so head coach Charlie Weis has made freshman Michael Cummings the starter.

After the team’s 1-4 start to the season, Weis told the media that the team began to practice without its seniors. After that announcement, Cummings began to appear in football games.

Cummings nearly led the Jayhawks to an upset victory over the Texas Longhorns last week by only attempting nine passes, completing three of those. Weis told the media in a press conference yesterday that Cummings has earned his spot as a starter.

‘I obviously think he’s making progress to where I’m not afraid to put him out there,’ Weis said. ‘You have to give him credit for a couple things. Number one; at the end of the spring he didn’t look too good. Number two; he hasn’t really played in a couple years and he just kept on working until there came a point to where he gave me an option. It wasn’t until he gave me an option that I put him in there. I’m not puting him in there because the fans are saying, ‘Let’s put him in there.’

Baylor head coach Art Briles also spoke about Cummings.

‘He [Michael Cummings] played really well the other day against Texas,’ Briles said. ‘He protected the ball well and ran the offense well. He made some critical plays at critical times. They were one play away from winning that football game. He is a good football player.’

Bears need to be mentally strong
After four straight losses, both blowouts and close games, the Baylor players need to keep a positive attitude, Briles said.

‘The mind controls the body, that’s what we always tell our players. What your mind tells you to do is what you are going to do. If you beat yourself up and wear yourself down then that’s the way you are going to perform. You have to have the mental capacity to think that you are going to do the right thing at the right time.”

Big 12 competition is relentless
Aside from Kansas State, the Big 12 teams have spend the year beating each other up. Baylor quarterback Nick Florence told the media the team expected that coming into the season.

‘The Big 12, I think, is the strongest top to bottom conference in the nation,’ he said. ‘There is not a lot that separates the top from the bottom. It just goes to show the type of caliber of players that are playing and the type of coaches that are coaching. You have one bad week and it will cost you. You make one mistake and it will cost you.’

Kansas commanded the respect of the Longhorns
It took a last-minute drive for Texas to defeat Kansas last week, and that was enough for UT head coach Mack Brown to acknowledge Charlie Weis’ contributions to Kansas.

‘I want to give Charlie Weis, Dave Campo and Kansas a whole lot of credit,’ Brown said. ‘They’ve played TCU down to the end here. They’ve played Oklahoma State down to the end here and did the same with us. They couldn’t have hired a better couch than Charlie. He’s a great coach. The guys are playing hard. They had a good crowd. It was loud, and you can tell they’re headed in the right direction.’

Spread goes to Baylor
The Bears open up as 17-point favorites against the Jayhawks.